Category Books

Notes From the Tilt-a-Whirl: Book Thoughts

Todd R 1 Comment

What do you get when you combine equal parts whimsy, theology and apologetics?  A book called Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl by N.D. Wilson.  Subtitled “Wide-Eyed Wonder in God’s Spoken World,” I would have never come across this book, and wouldn’t have considered reading it if I had, except that a relative (and blog reader) strongly recommended it.  However, the fact that the book begins with “I am a traveler” was a good starting point considering my blog’s typical greeting.

How to describe this book?  I think it was written as an antidote to this quote from the early pages of the book itself: “Marx called religion an opiate, and all too often it is.  But philosophy is an anesthetic, a shot to keep the wonder away.”  The book makes Christianity exciting and wonderful.  It dwells on how interesting, and often bizarre, this world and universe are, and how it can only be explained by an infinitely creative Creator God.  As a bonus, I learned a lot about nature from this book!

The book’s main point of view is that God is an artist, constantly creating in ways that we can’t reproduce or even fully understand.  God is always speaking things into existence and sustaining those things, including us.  “The world cannot exist apart from the voice of God,” and we are “a glop of paint, a character on a stage, an extra in a musical” in God’s creation.  Everything we create is an imitation of His infinite creativity.  Even the painter Jackson Pollock, when trying to create art that looks random and without design, can’t avoid the fact that he is its creator and that he created it on purpose.  It wouldn’t exist otherwise.

There’s also a good deal of philosophy in this book, but in a philosophy-for-poets kind of way that goes just deep enough so you can follow where he’s going, which is usually to show how the philosophy falls short of what the gospel offers.  He covers a lot of different viewpoints and always with a touch of whimsy (and at times a little condescension).  There’s a bit of Hume, a bit of Nietzsche, and a few others.

My favorite part of the book was his answer to an unbeliever who asked him whether he thought she was going to hell.  I won’t spoil it here (you’ll have to read it to find out), but I’m not sure C.S. Lewis could have come up with a better response.  If or when I’m asked that question, I hope I remember it.

For some the book’s whimsicality may seem irreverent as it explores our strange universe in all its forms over time.  For instance, Wilson at one point wonders: “As for God, His Son turned water into wine.  And so we end the story before He turned that wine into urine.  (Should we deny that He did?)”.  Sometimes Wilson goes for shock value to make us think, and here he asks us whether we really consider how complex and yet orderly this world really is, and how we think about the miracles Jesus performed.  And speaking of shock value, now is also probably a good time to warn you that there is a little bit of bad language in the book, if that bothers you.

So, if you’re looking for something to read that is likely very different from other things you read (at least for me), pick up Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl by N.D. Wilson.  It was very funny, thought-provoking and edifying all at the same time.  I look forward to reading it again, and soon!

Check it out.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: The First Book I Remember

Todd R 4 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What’s the first book you ever finished and still remember to this day?
View all responses

While I don’t often respond to writing prompts, today’s WordPress prompt of “What’s the first book you ever finished and still remember to this day?” caught my attention.  I didn’t read a lot as a child except what I needed to do for school, and only really read as a hobby after school was behind me.  So, I think I remember a lot of what I read for fun.  I know I read quite a few of the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, often re-reading them and making different choices until I got through all the different paths, but I have no idea which ones I read first and when.

Which leaves me with the first specific book I do remember reading, when I was probably about 10 years old: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis.  This fantasy tale can be approached and understood on many levels, but as a child it was just a great fantasy story.  It was easy as a child to identify with one or more of the 4 children who are the main characters: Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy.  On one hand, we can admire Peter for instance, but on the other hand it was easy to learn from the character arc of Edmund: to see that we can all fall to temptation and get our priorities wrong; to see that even the worst of us can be redeemed; to see that the noble Aslan, the lion king, is most noble when he sacrifices himself for Edmund.  These are all things our current culture can learn from.

The cover of the book I had as a child.

But it was only much later in life that I realized that Aslan was a representation of Jesus Christ, and that C.S. Lewis was a well-known writer of Christian apologetics (writings in the defense of Christianity).  Lewis had created, in his Chronicles of Narnia series, a set of books that operate well on multiple levels.  These weren’t just books for children with simple lessons, but books that can contribute to the faith of anyone at any age.  In fact, just last year I ordered the series of books because I couldn’t find them and started re-reading them, and I’m over 50 years old.  I’ve probably read a couple dozen books by C.S. Lewis, but these “children’s books” are still some of my favorites.

I even have a couple of Aslan’s quotes saved in my file of quotes:

“Oh Adam’s sons, how cleverly you defend yourselves against all that might do you good!”

“You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve. And that is both honor enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth”

Have you discovered Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia?  If not, check them out whether you want an easy, relaxing read, or whether you’re looking for surprising theological insight.  The books work for both.  If you have read them, read them again!  Maybe you’ll find, as I have, that there’s always something new in them, or something it’s helpful to be reminded of.

Thanks for reading and be sure to check out the rest of my blog where I post near-daily thoughts on Christianity and how it can affect our daily lives!

Driving Toward Morning’s 2025 in Books

Todd R 3 Comments

Dear fellow travelers,

It’s become a tradition here to post what books I read during the year.  This year’s total was 23, relatively high for me, but I read a lot of short books.  Last year I noted that I read less books (16) because of my struggle to get through the over 900 pages of The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim (1883).  I still haven’t finished it even though I started in late 2023 and didn’t really try in 2025.  Maybe in 2026 I can “close the book” on that one.

So, what books did I finish reading this year?

Fiction books (in order read):

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

I’ve read all of these before except Pride and Prejudice and A Christmas Carol.  The first is one of my wife’s favorites and I finally read it and did enjoy it.  The key is to know Austen is making fun of her characters.  The second is a story we all know, but reading it fills in a lot of spaces.  I was surprised at how funny it was.

Just like Tolkien’s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, I re-read Lewis’s Narnia books every few years and they are as good as ever.  I’m in the middle of The Silver Chair now, and am alternating between these and other, “harder” books.  It helps me stay motivated to read.

A few history books:

A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks by David Gibbins
Pax by Tom Holland
Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides
Wedding of the Waters by Peter Bernstein

Wedding of the Waters, a history of the building of the Erie Canal, is the only one of these I’d read before.  Pax, a history of part of the Roman Empire, was very well written and interesting, but I expected it to cover the time period of the New Testament.  It didn’t, but Dominion by the same author (which I got for Christmas) will probably cover that ground and more.

Plus several religious books:

In addition to regular Bible and study Bible reading, in 2025 I read:

The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer
The Unseen Realm by Michael Heiser
Making Me, and Like the Stars by Glenn Parkinson
Several books by Warren Wiersbe: Be Loyal (Matthew), Be Free (Galatians), Be Rich (Ephesians), Be Dynamic (Acts 1-12), Be Daring (Acts 13-28), Be Faithful (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon), Be Victorious (Revelation).

I picked up Wiersbe’s entire “Be” series in 2021 as part of a digital subscription and am working through it over time.  A long time.  I like his overall approach, and the books are a great source of thoughtful stories and quotes.  I’ve covered 32 of the Bible’s 66 books so far!

Have you read any of these?  What books did you enjoy in 2025? And speaking of reading, I want to thank all of you who take the time to read this blog.  In 2025 I nearly doubled my views from 2025 (the previous high)!  I don’t know what happened, but October through December of 2025 were very busy here.

Driving Toward Morning’s 2024 in Books

Todd R 2 Comments

Dear fellow travelers,

It’s become a tradition here to post what books I read during the year.  This year’s total was 16, down from over 20 each of the last 3 years.  A big part of the lower total was my struggle to get through The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim (1883).  At over 900 dense pages, I still haven’t finished it even though I started in late 2023.  It’s a fascinating biography of Jesus by one of the preeminent scholars of Jewish culture and literature of his time, but not an easy read sometimes.  Maybe in 2025 I can “close the book” on that one.

So, what books did I finish reading this year?

Fiction books:
Eight Tales of Terror by Edgar Allan Poe
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien

I re-read Tolkien’s books every few years and they were as good as ever.  The only problem is that Fellowship of the Ring is my favorite of the trilogy, especially the part from Weathertop to the bridge of Khazad-Dum, so the story peaks too soon for me, but the rest is great as well.

Poe I read because I was looking for something easy to read and found it on our bookshelves.  It has some familiar and unfamiliar stories.

A few history books:
The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson
Last Hope Island by Lynne Olson
A Holy Baptism of Fire and Blood by James P. Byrd
The Pirate Coast by Richard Zachs

I’ll read anything by Erik Larson, and since he released a new one, I had to read it.  The Demon of Unrest details the events before, during and after, the Battle of Fort Sumter and the start of the American Civil War.  I knew very little about it so I learned a lot.

Last year I read Byrd’s book about how the Bible was used during the American Revolutionary War.  This one is the same idea, but during the American Civil War (sensing a bit of theme here?).  Both books are very interesting and full of examples of misuse of the Bible, particularly individual verses taken out of context and turned into slogans.

A couple non-fiction:
Beyond Measure by James Vincent
Rescuing Socrates by Roosevelt Montas

Vincent’s book is an interesting history of measurement, including how many of our units were started.  One part I liked was why some countries use metric and others don’t.  Montas’ book is a defense of the use of the “Great Books” for education, for all students regardless of race or background.  He cycles through 4 authors – Plato, Augustine, Freud, and Gandhi – making a different case for each.

And one biography:
Darwin: Portrait of a Genius by Paul Johnson

The late Paul Johnson was one of my favorite historians and this one had been on my shelves for a few years.  Like with Larson, I’ll read anything by Johnson.  This was a brief and well-done biography covering Charles Darwin’s achievements, strengths and weaknesses (the part we don’t hear as much about).  Johnson is always opinionated and shares where he thinks Darwin’s theories are helpful and where they aren’t.

Plus several religious books:
In addition to regular Bible and study Bible reading, in 2024 I read:

The Reason for God by Tim Keller
3 books by Warren Wiersbe covering the “minor” prophets: Be Heroic (Haggai – Ezra), Be Amazed (Hosea – Malachi), and Be Concerned (Amos – Zephaniah).

I picked up Wiersbe’s entire “Be” series in 2021 as part of a digital subscription and am working through it over time.  A long time.  I like his overall approach, and the books are a great source of thoughtful stories and quotes.  I’ve covered 22 of the Bible’s 66 books so far!

In sum, 16 was less than usual for me in a year, but how many will I read in 2025?  Will I finally finish Edersheim, which I’m reading chunks of between other books?  Who knows…in the meantime, have you read any of these?  What books did you enjoy in 2024?

And speaking of reading, I want to thank all of you who take the time to read my blog. I set a new high in views in 2024, passing 2022 (2023 was slightly down).

Driving Toward Morning’s 2023 in Books

Todd R 2 Comments

Dear fellow travelers,

As 2023 ends, many are posting reflections on the year, including book lists.  Figured I’d jump in again!  In 2022, I managed to read 22 books, but topped that in 2023 with 26.

What books did I read this year?

Let’s start with the fun ones.

Fiction books:

Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams
The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

Mostly Harmless is the last of 5 books in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series.  The Silmarillion I tried to read way back in high school but couldn’t finish.  I finally got it in this year.

Classics:

Each year I try to fit in a couple of “classics,” although what books belong in that category is debatable.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Chosen by Chaim Potok
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Chosen was my favorite of these.  It’s a story of two Jewish teenagers in Brooklyn in and around the time of World War II.  One of them was a strict Hasidic Jew, while the other was not, and the book follows their friendship over time.

A few history books:

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
Christianity Through the Centuries by Earle Cairns
Sacred Scripture, Sacred War by James P. Byrd

Erik Larson is one of my favorite authors, and this book covers the rise of Hitler, including why there wasn’t more opposition to him earlier, mostly through the eyes of the U.S. ambassador to Germany.

Byrd’s book is based on a study of hundreds of sermons delivered and/or published during the American Revolutionary War and covers the Bible verses and ideas that were used to motivate American soldiers.  Most interesting were verses whose interpretations changed to fit the preacher’s objectives, not objectives changed to fit Scripture.  For example, there were verses used to justify rebellion from England that were later used to justify submission to the new American government.

More non-fiction than usual:

Success Through Failure by Henry Petroski
Force by Henry Petroski
Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson
Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke
The Elements of Style by Strunk & White

I read two by Petroski by accident.  One was recommended by a relative and the other by a book review I read.  Only when I started the second one did I realize it was the same author.  Both were interesting descriptions of engineering ideas for laymen like myself.

I hope to not break any of Strunk & White’s rules in my blog in 2024.  I initially read it during college, and finally came back to it for some light airplane reading.

Also more biography than usual:

Faithful Presence by Bill Haslam
Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter
Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis
Pulitzer by W.A. Swanberg

Reading about Tolkien and Lewis back-to-back was very interesting, and not just because they mention each other.  I didn’t know much about Tolkien’s background and faith, and how those influenced his fiction, or much of Lewis’ journey of faith.

The Pulitzer biography was fascinating as background for why much of the media are the way they are today.  Pulitzer as publisher was driven by a political agenda and used sensationalist methods to bring in readership.  Pulitzer as man was a genius with an amazing memory, but also abusive of his staff and sometimes his family.

Plus a bunch of religious books and devotionals:

In addition to regular Bible and study Bible reading, in 2023 I read:

Is Europe Christian? By Olivier Roy
Rediscovering Holiness by J.I. Packer
2 books by my former pastor Glenn Parkinson: A Larger Faith: the Book of Daniel and Peter’s Principles: Learning to Follow Jesus
The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis
3 books by Warren Wiersbe: Be Committed (Ruth/Esther), Be Determined (Nehemiah), and Be Patient (Job).
Morning by Morning by Charles Spurgeon

Roy’s book discusses different ideas of how a country or region can be considered Christian, then whether Europe meets his criteria. I found the parts about “what is a Christian country?” more interesting that the question asked in the title.

I read the Four Loves for the first time because someone recently compared one of my posts to the book.  Much of the book isn’t theology, but more practical observations about human relationships.

I picked up Wiersbe’s entire “Be” series in 2021 as part of a digital subscription and am working through it over time.  A long time.  I like his overall approach and the books are a great source of thoughtful stories and quotes.

26 is lot for me, and how many will I read in 2024?  Who knows…in the meantime, have you read any of these 26?  What books did you enjoy in 2023?